Showing posts with label Chickens in the Garden. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chickens in the Garden. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 6, 2015
Sunday, June 30, 2013
Hot Hens
This is Peanut, our Golden Sex Link hen.
She may look as if she's getting ready to voice a pithy chicken saying, but she's really just panting because of the heat.
Here in Boise we are experiencing a bit of a heat wave, even for our desert area. The temperatures are expected to be in the 100's and up to 108 degrees (42 C) for six consecutive days.
If you have chickens you need to help them survive the stress of such heat.
Some things you can do:
1. Water. Always. Have cool water available to them at all times.
2. Shade. Essential in hot weather.
Other options include a mister, an outdoor fan, space for a dust bath, and avoid overcrowding your flock.
Kim and I have been allowing our girls to range in the back yard which has all they seem to require.
For more tips on hot hens:
Roscommon Acres
Poultry One
Kim and I have been on vacation. More on that later.
She may look as if she's getting ready to voice a pithy chicken saying, but she's really just panting because of the heat.
Here in Boise we are experiencing a bit of a heat wave, even for our desert area. The temperatures are expected to be in the 100's and up to 108 degrees (42 C) for six consecutive days.
If you have chickens you need to help them survive the stress of such heat.
Some things you can do:
1. Water. Always. Have cool water available to them at all times.
2. Shade. Essential in hot weather.
Other options include a mister, an outdoor fan, space for a dust bath, and avoid overcrowding your flock.
Kim and I have been allowing our girls to range in the back yard which has all they seem to require.
For more tips on hot hens:
Roscommon Acres
Poultry One
Kim and I have been on vacation. More on that later.
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Chickens Again
I know you've all seen many a post about our "girls" (hens). They've reached their second birthdays this year. Kim and I have been very lucky (or the girls have been lucky I guess), no illness, injury or deaths with our girls during these two years.
Yesterday I thought our luck had run out. We've banned them from the back yard this year in order to allow the garden to recuperate. They've been confined to the area behind the garage where their coop sits, with access to the three compost bins and plenty of area in which to run around.
Seems as if Ginger wasn't satisfied with that arrangement. I went outside to give them some greens yesterday and as I was counting heads I could only count to two. Wrong, wrong, wrong. I quickly made a search and couldn't see Ginger anywhere. Kim began searching the yard as I began searching the neighborhood, wondering if she had finally "flown the coop" for the first time. I was envisioning her encountering a neighbor's dog and the end result of that wouldn't be pretty.
Well, looky here. A normal strawberry patch, correct?
But, look closer.
This was where we found her yesterday the second time she went missing. So we gave up and left her alone. We figured at least she was still in the yard.
When I came back later Ginger was back in the coop (we leave the door open all day so they have access to water and food and the nesting boxes) and she had left this in the strawberry patch.
All the information we read concerning raising chickens said that with just three hens, two nesting boxes are plenty. Yesterday Jelly Bean was using the right hand box. Seems as if the left hand box just won't cut it for Ginger so she flew over our little four foot fence into the veg garden and made her own nest.
So we gave up and since we were both gardening outside yesterday we let them all have a day in the garden.
Here's Tootsie ravishing a Tartarian aster.
A nice view of Ginger's butt as she looks to see what's under the Crambe cordifolia.
Jelly Bean poses on a lawn chair.
And Tootsie gets friendly with Kim.
All three of them looking innocent.
We plan on bringing them into the garden at least once a week from now on. As long as we're with them we can minimize the digging, scratching and constant munching of plants. I did realize yesterday how much I have missed seeing them in the garden. And they are such a natural pest repellent, we really need to let them do their job.
Yesterday I thought our luck had run out. We've banned them from the back yard this year in order to allow the garden to recuperate. They've been confined to the area behind the garage where their coop sits, with access to the three compost bins and plenty of area in which to run around.
Seems as if Ginger wasn't satisfied with that arrangement. I went outside to give them some greens yesterday and as I was counting heads I could only count to two. Wrong, wrong, wrong. I quickly made a search and couldn't see Ginger anywhere. Kim began searching the yard as I began searching the neighborhood, wondering if she had finally "flown the coop" for the first time. I was envisioning her encountering a neighbor's dog and the end result of that wouldn't be pretty.
Well, looky here. A normal strawberry patch, correct?
But, look closer.
This was where we found her yesterday the second time she went missing. So we gave up and left her alone. We figured at least she was still in the yard.
When I came back later Ginger was back in the coop (we leave the door open all day so they have access to water and food and the nesting boxes) and she had left this in the strawberry patch.
All the information we read concerning raising chickens said that with just three hens, two nesting boxes are plenty. Yesterday Jelly Bean was using the right hand box. Seems as if the left hand box just won't cut it for Ginger so she flew over our little four foot fence into the veg garden and made her own nest.
So we gave up and since we were both gardening outside yesterday we let them all have a day in the garden.
Here's Tootsie ravishing a Tartarian aster.
A nice view of Ginger's butt as she looks to see what's under the Crambe cordifolia.
Jelly Bean poses on a lawn chair.
And Tootsie gets friendly with Kim.
All three of them looking innocent.
We plan on bringing them into the garden at least once a week from now on. As long as we're with them we can minimize the digging, scratching and constant munching of plants. I did realize yesterday how much I have missed seeing them in the garden. And they are such a natural pest repellent, we really need to let them do their job.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Living With Chickens
I debated what the title should be for this post; "Chickens in Charge" came to my mind.
But we're still learning how not to have the chickens in charge around here.
For instance, this fence is working, protecting the hellebores, aquilegia, snowdrops, heucheras and primroses.
On the other hand they've managed to make their way around this fence and have dug the hole on the right and pretty much destroyed the bleeding heart that was here.
Gotta eliminate those fence openings!
If you're a regular reader of this blog you may be thinking, "Hey, what happened to 'Corraling the Chickens'?"
Well, it worked for a while. Then the girls decided they just couldn't put up with being kept out of the yard and they started flying over the fence. And yes, I know we could clip those wings but Kim and I aren't willing to go there. Not yet.
And yes, we could just keep them in their coop which most people say is more of a chicken castle than a coop. But, they're chickens and they love to roam and we love it when they're happy.
So, enter the fences. We've decided to fence off the most tender and precious plants in the garden and allow the chickens free reign over the rest.
New garden decor?
No, it's Ginger.
Grass seems to be the most favored treat of our chickens. They LOVE it. They eat, eat, eat the grass. Yet they don't seem to destroy it. If you watch them, you notice they only snip off the tip of each blade, then move on to the next.
Jelly Bean contemplates what to eat next.
So, they're happy eating grass. And in most of the garden they mess around without really destroying anything. I say most because they have dug up two of our newest clematis. Yes, I know, we were sad too, but we're still optimistic that we may see new growth on both plants eventually.
And as you can see from this photo I took just yesterday we do indeed still have a garden. (From the angle I took this it looks as if the back deck is about to fall over backwards. It's just the angle, it's really very level.)
I bought this fence at Fred Meyers. Not working. The chickens fit right through it. I have some extra of this, I may try to just double it up. There are some new hostas and ferns in this area that I would really enjoy seeing this year.
We dug deep into the garden fund and put up this "big guns" fence around the veggie garden.
We moved the original ugly green fence and surrounded the ferns, eremurus, and white daylilies. Seems to be working great. Quite the eyesore though.
But the plants seem happy now.
One place the girls have claimed for their own is under the back deck. We're happy to agree with them. The space is dry and nothing grows there. They hang out under the deck and joyfully roll around taking dust baths to their heart's content.
Tootsie, the head chicken, keeps her eye on everything and everyone.
Our view from the deck;
Sometimes if you look closer you'll see some "wild life".
And the whole "family" enjoying the nice spring weather we had yesterday.
But we're still learning how not to have the chickens in charge around here.
For instance, this fence is working, protecting the hellebores, aquilegia, snowdrops, heucheras and primroses.
On the other hand they've managed to make their way around this fence and have dug the hole on the right and pretty much destroyed the bleeding heart that was here.
Gotta eliminate those fence openings!
If you're a regular reader of this blog you may be thinking, "Hey, what happened to 'Corraling the Chickens'?"
Well, it worked for a while. Then the girls decided they just couldn't put up with being kept out of the yard and they started flying over the fence. And yes, I know we could clip those wings but Kim and I aren't willing to go there. Not yet.
And yes, we could just keep them in their coop which most people say is more of a chicken castle than a coop. But, they're chickens and they love to roam and we love it when they're happy.
So, enter the fences. We've decided to fence off the most tender and precious plants in the garden and allow the chickens free reign over the rest.
New garden decor?
No, it's Ginger.
Grass seems to be the most favored treat of our chickens. They LOVE it. They eat, eat, eat the grass. Yet they don't seem to destroy it. If you watch them, you notice they only snip off the tip of each blade, then move on to the next.
Jelly Bean contemplates what to eat next.
So, they're happy eating grass. And in most of the garden they mess around without really destroying anything. I say most because they have dug up two of our newest clematis. Yes, I know, we were sad too, but we're still optimistic that we may see new growth on both plants eventually.
And as you can see from this photo I took just yesterday we do indeed still have a garden. (From the angle I took this it looks as if the back deck is about to fall over backwards. It's just the angle, it's really very level.)
I bought this fence at Fred Meyers. Not working. The chickens fit right through it. I have some extra of this, I may try to just double it up. There are some new hostas and ferns in this area that I would really enjoy seeing this year.
We dug deep into the garden fund and put up this "big guns" fence around the veggie garden.
We moved the original ugly green fence and surrounded the ferns, eremurus, and white daylilies. Seems to be working great. Quite the eyesore though.
But the plants seem happy now.
One place the girls have claimed for their own is under the back deck. We're happy to agree with them. The space is dry and nothing grows there. They hang out under the deck and joyfully roll around taking dust baths to their heart's content.
Tootsie, the head chicken, keeps her eye on everything and everyone.
Our view from the deck;
Sometimes if you look closer you'll see some "wild life".
And the whole "family" enjoying the nice spring weather we had yesterday.
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